End of the Road

Well, here we are at the end of the road. Lou has been in NYC for nearly a full week now and I'm back in OK and about to make a move myself. It's funny how when you're away from home you have all kinds of time to do this stuff. And then you get back in a routine or busy with life and some things get neglected. I guess that goes for everything.
But as promised, here's our final blog... complete with never before seen pics and a trip survey!
So here goes:

FAVORITE LEG OF THE TRIP:
LOU: All parts that did not include me behind the wheel
KEVIN: Tuesday driving from Monroe, LA to Columbia, SC. I woke up feeling better, it was great weather, the drive went quickly and that Hampton Inn bed!

FAVORITE ROAD SNACK:
LOU: BK Chicken Tenders
KEVIN: The Snappea Crisps provided by Laurie (honorable mention goes to Ana's poisonous trail mix)

FAVORITE STOP:
LOU: Sims, NC... Where Kevin thought he was being held up at the gas pump. I love me some dra-ma!
KEVIN: Besides the Hampton Inn bed, I really enjoyed our dinner and wine in DC

LONGEST LEG OF THE TRIP:
LOU: The last hour and a half!
KEVIN: Baltimore to New Jersey seemed to take forever!

MOST STRESSFUL/SCARIEST MOMENT IN THE BULLET (THE PENSKE):
LOU: It's a tie...(1) The first time Kevin drove through a tunnel and a semi passed us going 100 mph (ok fine, but that's what it felt like!)
2) My door being open on the Interstate and the fact that there was an 18-wheeler behind us and Kevin couldn't pull over, meaning I had to open and shut the door while trucking down the road. Still makes my palms sweaty!
KEVIN: Surprisingly.. it wasn't driving in NYC during rush hour. I think it was just the Jersey Turnpike in general where there was so much going on.

ONE THING YOU LEARNED ABOUT YOURSELF ON THE TRIP:
LOU: That I could drive a freakin' 16 foot Penske truck in rain during rush hour in Dallas. Hell Yeah!!
KEVIN: That I would make a damn good truck driver.

MOST ANNOYED YOU GOT WITH EACH OTHER DURING THE TRIP:
LOU: When Kevin was trying to figure out what to do about his going away party! I was about to rent out the Ford Center for him!
KEVIN: When after driving all day and helping her move in the apartment, Lou asked if my hair was dirty and took away the couch cushion I was resting my head on (she did get me a replacement).

ONE THING YOU WISHED WE WOULD HAVE DONE BUT DIDN'T:
LOU: I wish we would have had more time to stop and play along the way!
KEVIN: I wish I would have had a lot more time to enjoy NYC.

FIRST THOUGHT IN YOUR MIND WHEN WE SAW THE NYC SKYLINE:
LOU: We did it! We really made it here in one piece. I was super proud of us! Go Thelma & Louis!
KEVIN: I was very excited for Lou to finally be so close.

FAVORITE THING ABOUT LOU'S NEW PLACE:
LOU: Besides the fact that it's in NY? The closet space! What? I'm a girl!
KEVIN: Great location, great layout, great city!

Well, that just about wraps up the blog. Five days of travel, almost 2,000 miles, 13 states. I loved every minute of it. Lou is one of the few friends that I could do that trip with and remain friends. Even after we arrived in NYC, we realized that we hadn't even turned on the radio the last day (7 hours on the road). It's not that we talked the entire time... it's that we are so comfortable with each other that we don't have to talk.
And along the way I also got a job offer. It happened during a rainstorm outside of Richmond, VA when we had just happened to pull over for a break. I was able to answer my phone and Lou was just as excited for me. So in a few weeks, I'll be packing up my life and hitting the road. Maybe in a Penske truck. I sure would like to have Lou as my co-pilot. After all, we are two kindergarten friends who have a standing OU-texas football date every October now both starting over in new cities. This may be the end of the blog, but it's just the beginning of our journey.

I'd Rather Be Driving a Penske

Well, if anyone's still following this... I've got a few more posts left in me. Sorry about the delay in blogs. I mean you get handed a free porn magazine on every corner but you can't steal wireless internet anywhere in NYC.
I'm gonna try to catch you up:
My trip home was almost as long as the drive up there. It started with a 9:30am cab ride from Lou's apartment to Penn Station. There I caught a train through about 10 towns to the outer suburbs. I caught a shuttle bus to the Islip Airport and boarded my flight. Only once in Baltimore did I reazlize that my flight to OKC included a stop in St. Louis. For anyone flying Southwest out there... be warned. Apparently they like to sneak in these little stops and still call it a non-stop flight. But the flight attendant more than made up for it by keeping the free rum and cokes headed my way (I didn't even need the coupons you gave me Lou!). I also find it odd that after the plane crashed into the Hudson, they no longer say 'in the unlikely event of a water landing...'. Now it's just 'in the event of a water landing...'.
Anyway, finally at 7:45pm I touched down in the OC.
The pics are of Lou's big move. The traffic we braved in the rush hour, the movers, her boxes on the streets of NY, the joy of returning the Yellow Bullet (what we came to call the Penske), me in what I refer to as my loft bedroom in Lou's apartment which is actually a huge storage area. I suggested she put an air mattress up there and rent it out as a second bedroom.
There will be one last blog tonight. I've emailed Lou sort of 'best of' list about the trip and we'll compare answers. I know there's something called the Superbowl tonight but I'm sure the world's more excited about how this little blog will come to a close...

We've Arrived!

Great news! We arrived in NYC yesterday afternoon about 3:15pm... approximately 45 minutes after scheduled. Not bad for driving cross-country.
Sorry for the late blog and no pics, but believe it or not in this city of 10 million people we can't find one damn unsecured wireless internet connection to use. In fact I'm typing this on her friend's computer and we only have a few minutes. I'm gonna try to put up pics later today hopefully if we can get Lou's internet set up. We have quite a few fun pics.
Yesterday was quite demanding too. We got up in DC and then drove through Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia (including a bad traffic jam), Trenton and then finally NYC.
Lou's movers were waiting for us and we were in the apartment within an hour and a half.
Taking the big yellow bullet (the Penske) back to the rental place was a trip all of it's own. I feel like I can anything now that I've driven a 16-foot Penske truck across Manhattan in rush hour traffic. At one point, I even did a u-turn in the middle of a street. I had driving that thing down to an art form.
After we said goodbye to the bullet we walked back to Lou's and stopped at a fun dive bar named the Trailer Park for drinks and dinner.
I promise we've got a lot of fun pics prove all this and hopefully I can post them later. Plus, stay tuned for pics of Lou's new apartment and tomorrow an end-of-the road survey from both of us!

The Final Push

We're up early again this morning for the last leg. Depending on traffic we should be in NYC right around or a little after noon.
Lou took me out for a great dinner last night here in DC at a restaurant named Carlyle's. I wasn't sure how the food would taste since it didn't come from a gas station. But we did share a bottle of wine which I'm blaming on the blurry pic above.
We're both pretty road-weary. I slept a total of about 3 hours last night, Lou not much more. For you future travelers out there, avoid Comfort Inn. I'd give anything for that Hamptom Inn bed again...
So the next time we check in it should be from the Big Apple!

Pedro's Playground!

If you ever find yourself on the North Carolina/South Carolina border... there's an odd little amusement park you can't miss. Literally, the place has billboards every quarter mile leading up to it. It's called Pedro's Playground South O' The Border.
The only border it's south of is the North Carolina line. And that hardly counts where we come from.
The place advertises for everything: amusement park, coffee shop, miniature golf and fireworks. You know for the adventurous student looking for a place to fire off a few blackcats after the back 9. It even has a motel if you can't do it all in a day.
But much to our surprise when we stopped... Pedro has an affinity for statues from all walks of life. There are animal statues, food statues, Pedro statues. There was an even a huge sombrero on the top of a water tower which, as you can see in the pic, I cleverly framed on top of Lou's head.
Quite frankly I don't know why you'd ever pay money to go inside of Pedro's Playground. There were free restrooms outside the gates and Lou and I had just as much fun playing with the statues as we would hitting a tiny ball through a windmill.
So enjoy the pics. After all, nothing makes me think of South Carolina like a run-down Mexican amusement park. Viva America!

Finger Lickin' Good Time

We have arrived in DC! Don't pay any attention to the time this blog lists... it's off a few hours. It's just past 7pm est and we've checked into the hotel for the night. It was beautiful until Richmond and then we hit rain all the way to DC. We'll wait it out here for the night but tomorrow looks great to travel.
Now... we'd like to wecome a new reader to the blog. LouAnn's mom Norma (hi Norma!) apparently finally found us. She enjoyed the blog so much she told Lou that I should look into being a journalist. Funny, that's what I thought I was doing the past six years on her tv screen. She later clarified that she meant a 'real' writer. Point taken. Maybe I'll look into it.
I'd also like to clear up the name of the last post which has been a bone of contention for me today. It's not Thelma and 'Louise'! It's 'Louis!' Get it? I don't mean to complain about our fan club but I do expect a certain amount of attention paid to the details I'm putting into this thing.
After all the confusion I've also taken blog title privileges away from Lou.
As you can see from the pic above, we also passed through Sims, NC today. We stopped for gas and a guy approached me at the pump. I thought I was getting ready to get my sh*! jacked, but instead he just wanted to offer me the opportunity to purchase a lovely cubic zirconian ring he pulled out of his pocket. Glad to see the people of Sims' are opportunists and entrepreneurs at heart.
Right around Florence, SC today we passed a purple semi where the driver apparently had his 'handle' painted on the door. We waved at 'Fried Chicken' and decided that we too needed road names. I immediately looked at Lou in the passenger seat (again) and named her 'Miss Daisy.'She hasn't come up with an appropriate name for me yet.
We are going to grab a bite to eat but I've got a great tease for ya... we stopped at a place named 'Pedro's South O' The Border Playground' today and took lots of pics. There's one posted above and there's a lot more where that came from...

Thelma & Louis

Lou came up with the title of this one as we were driving last night. I promise I'm not keeping her away from the blog... I've even tried to give her the password so she can write some herself but so far no luck.
Meanwhile we drove a lot yesterday. 13 hours to be exact. From Monroe, LA to Columbia, SC. Seriously, go get a map and look at how far that is. And now imagine doing it in a Penske truck.
For the first time on the trip we feel a little under the gun this morning because we know there's a winter storm headed our way. We are up early this morning and plan to drive as far as we can (hopefully DC) and as soon as it gets bad we are going to pull over and find another Hampton Inn. That's where we stayed last night and I've got to find out what kind of mattresses they use because it was the best bed I've ever slept in. Or maybe it's the fact that I was behind the wheel of a Penske for 13 hours that made me so tired.
Regardless, I planned on being more witty and posting some pics this morning but we are heading out to beat the weather. I should be able to do more tonight since we plan on pulling over early.
And we're off...

Day Two-sday on the Road

So just a quick blog this morning before we hit the road. Gotta take advantage of the free, fast internet at the hotel. In fact we have to take advantage of everything the hotel has to offer. We literally stopped at a gas station yesterday with a sign on the door that said 'Our pipes our old, please do not flush any toilet paper down the toilet.' Wtf? Needless to say the trash can was disgusting. Fortunately I warned Lou in enough time and she skipped the women's room. We vowed to find better bathrooms after that.
So this morning both of us are awake and watching the weather channel. It looks like we are going to be fine headed east but once we turn north it could get dicey. We've talked about driving straight through. But we might also just drive to the South Carolina coast, find a bar, and burn a day waiting it out. My vote is for the latter.
It is indeed my turn behind the wheel today. I woke up feeling tremendously better and Lou didn't sleep a wink.
On a side note, I see that OKC is frozen under half an inch of ice. And while I would like to have a paycheck these days, I sure don't miss standing out in that crap telling people not to drive if they don't have to...
Wish me luck behind the big yellow box!

Rainy Days and Mondays...

Well today we had both. Just about the time the movers arrived at Lou's apartment, the rain started. Lou, Laurie and Casey cleaned and packed for several hours. I on the other hand have proven to be probably the worst road trip partner ever... at one point taking a nap in her closet to try and ease my pain.
And I must apologize to our friend Ana. It turns out the trail mix is not the root of my pain but instead some sort of virus. For a while today I thought I had grown a uterus because my stomach cramps were that bad. Our friend Tad the doctor is convinced that it's a 24-48 hour bug and I should be fine by tomorrow.
That being said, Lou has turned out to be quite the trooper. Right around rush hour, we hopped into the Penske (I know, it's not a U-Haul but I'm not changing the blog name) and tackled Dallas traffic. We convinced each other that we were in no hurry and that driving in the right hand lane was actually cool.
About six hours later we pulled up at the Wingate Hotel in Monroe, Louisiana. Excellent progress I think.
I think tomorrow it's my turn behind the wheel. We are aiming for somewhere east of Atlanta but we could be easily sidetracked by roadside attractions.
I'm going to try to attach some photos but no promises...

Sunday Not-So-Funday

The original name of this post was going to be 'My Train of Thought' because I was going to write all about my trip down to Dallas on the Heartland Flyer. But something funny happened on the way to Ft. Worth. And basically I blame it on some bad trail mix.

I had such high hopes for the trail mix. It, among with a lot of other snacks, was given to me by our great friend Ana. I promised her a shout-out in the blog for providing it. I'm not sure this is what she had in mind.

Towards the end of the train ride (which really was amusing, I'll post pics later) I dug into Ana's trail mix. I mainly stuck to the dried fruit... you know pineapple, bananas, something orange I believe were apricots.

But as soon as Lou picked me up outside the Amtrak station, I felt something in the pit of my stomach. By the time we got to her friend's house to drop off the car, I wanted to die. I literally walked in their house, almost passed out on their newly-turned 5-year-old daughter, and walked out. I'm sure they wondered who the creepy, pasty, unfriendly guy was. I've also recently learned that as soon as I walked out the mom bathed her entire body in germ-x so as not to catch my bad ju-ju.

Lou and her friend Laurie dropped me off at home and the past ten hours have been a blur. For me, they included intense stomach cramps, a spiking fever and sleep.

For Lou... the past ten hours included bottomless $5 mimosas. Yup, that's what I missed. For hours on end, she and a circle of friends toasted, talked and drank. I'm sure there were many memories shared and new ones made. All the while I managed to catch the last 30 minutes of The Color Purple on BET. It's just not the same.

The good news is is that Lou and Laurie have taken great care of me since they returned home... they were a little loud but I can't complain about the care. I was pumped full of Advil, water and tucked into bed.

It's now close to midnight and I just woke up. I don't want to jinx it but I'm feeling much better. Not great enough to eat yet, but well enough to make you suffer through my Sunday Not-So-Funday.

And the movers come in the morning...

'Twas the Night Before...

So, January 5th I was told that my job was being 'eliminated' and I had two weeks to figure out how I would pay February bills. Among the first people I called was LouAnn Daggs, a friend since kindergarden. She sympathized with me and told me that it was a sign of better things to come.
About a day and $10 worth of Taco Bell later, LouAnn called me and asked 'when did you say your last day is?' I told her it was January 20th. My job would be ending the same day as the presidential inauguration. I couldn't decide if this was the 'change' Barack Obama promised or if I was being ushered out with the Bush administration. But Lou's response was 'great!' Her joy, I later found out, was self-serving.
You see, a few months ago LouAnn decided she too wanted to start over and decided to move from Dallas to NYC. Her cross-country move was scheduled for the end of January and now that my schedule had been cleared, I could be her travel partner.
I agreed under one condition. That I not spend a dime of my own money. That's right, unemployment will make you cut right to the chase sometimes.
She took me up on my conditions and I took up her offer. Tomorrow morning I will catch the Heartland Flyer from OKC to Ft. Worth. Monday morning the U-Haul arrives, the movers load up Lou's life possessions and we're off. The only place I have to be over the next week is at the airport next Saturday for my one-way ticket back to Oklahoma.
This blog will be our journey. Two kindergarden friends who have a standing OU-texas football date every October now starting over (cue music from The Hills).
I hope you all enjoy the ride!
Kev (and soon to be Lou)